The unprecedented talent of Mike Stern could be heard for the first time when the 22-year old guitarist joined the innovative band Blood, Sweat & Tears. With their credentials in his pocket he could work with almost all the jazz greats. The names of Billy Cobham, Miles Davis, Jaco Pastorius, The Brecker Brothers and many others fill the CV of this wizard of the strings. His American debut Upside Downside (1986) hit the fusion scene like a musical bomb: with his angular rhythms, jumpy melodies and the more often than not hysterically inspired solos, Stern, like a sort of Paganini of the guitar, succeeded in winning a whole lot of fans. His CD Voices was nominated for a Grammy and albums like These Times and Who Let the Cats Out? present a matured musician at his best. In the duo Jackson/Weckl Stern is backed up by one of the best fusion rhythm sections. The status of Anthony Jackson is such that he was allowed to work on an album of the perfectionists of Steely Dan, a band also present at North Sea Jazz. Dave Weckle is embraced by a whole generation as the best fusion drummer of all time. In short, a concert of which the result will be more than the sum of its parts.
